What is meaning? How is linguistic communication possible? What is the nature of language? What is the relationship between language and the world? How do metaphors work? The Philosophy of Language, considered the essential text in its field, is an excellent introduction to such fundamental questions. This revised edition collects forty-six of the most important articles in the field, making it the most up-to-date and comprehensive volume on the subject. Revised to address changing trends and contemporary developments, the fifth edition features seven new articles including influential work by Mark Crimmins, Gottlob Frege, David Kaplan, Frederick Kroon, W. V. Quine, and Robert Stalnaker… (two essays). Other selections include classic articles by such distinguished philosophers as J. L. Austin, John Stuart Mill, Hilary Putnam, Bertrand Russell, John R. Searle, and P. F. Strawson. The selections represent evolving and varying approaches to the philosophy of language, with many articles building upon earlier ones or critically discussing them. Eight sections cover the central issues: Truth and Meaning; Speech Acts; Reference and Descriptions; Names and Demonstratives; Propositional Attitudes; Metaphor and Pretense; Interpretation and Translation; and The Nature of Language. A general introduction and introductions to each section give students background to the issues and explain the connections between them. A list of suggested further reading follows each section.

The Semantic Conception of Truth and the Foundations of Semantics (1944)

Meaning (1957)

Truth and Meaning (1967)

Suggested Further Reading

Speech Acts

Performative Utterances (1961)

The Structure of Illocutionary Acts (1969)

A Taxonomy of Illocutionary Acts (1979)

Logic and Conversation (1975)

Indirect Speech Acts (1975)

Assertion (1978)

Suggested Further Reading

Reference and Descriptions

On Sense and Nominatum (1892)

On Denoting (1905)

Descriptions (1919)

On Referring (1950)

Mr. Strawson on Referring (1957)

Reference and Definite Descriptions (1966)

Suggested Further Reading

Names and Demonstratives

Of Names (1881)

Naming and Necessity (1972)

Meaning and Reference (1973)

The Causal Theory of Names (1973)

Proper Names and Intentionality (1983)

Dthat (1970)

On the Logic of Demonstratives (1978)

The Problem of the Essential Indexical (1979)

Suggested Further Reading

Propositional Attitudes

Quantifiers and Propositional Attitudes (1956)

On Saying That (1968)

Quantifying In (1968)

Semantic Innocence and Uncompromising Situations (1981)

A Puzzle about Belief (1979)

Semantics for Belief (1987)

Suggested Further Reading

Metaphor and Pretense

What Metaphors Mean (1978)

A Theory for Metaphor (1984)

Hesperus and Phosphorus: Sense, Pretense, and Reference (1998)

Descriptivism, Pretense, and the Frege-Russell Problems (2004)

Suggested Further Reading

Interpretation and Translation

Translation and Meaning (1960)

Belief and the Basis of Meaning (1974)

A Nice Derangement of Epitaphs (1985)

Indeterminacy, Empiricism, and the First Person (1987)

Suggested Further Reading

The Nature of Language

Of Words (1690)

On Rules and Private Language (1982)

Truth Rules, Hoverflies, and the Kripke-Wittgenstein Paradox (1990)

Languages and Language (1975)

Language and Problems of Knowledge (1988)

Suggested Further Reading

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